The programme of taxi transformation involves several complementary components -regulation and legalization; formalization and democratization; and recapitalisation. In hearings and in monitoring work, the Committee has been able to appreciate very important progress made in regard to regulation, legalization, formalization and the democratization of the sector. There are now 9 democratically-elected provincial taxi councils, and a single democratically-elected national body, the South African National Taxi Council (SANTACO). These and other steps have also contributed to a very significant diminishing of violence in the sector.

The Committee expresses its appreciation for the work of the National Department of Transport, provincial departments, and of many others in securing these outcomes.

For various reasons, progress in implementing the taxi re-capitalization component of the programme has proven to be difficult. The recapitalisation programme, led by a joint team from the Department of Trade and Industry and the National Department of Transport, envisages the replacement of the existing fleet of some 97,000 mini-buses, by a new fleet of safer, purpose-built, 18 and 35-seater mini- and midi-buses. In terms of the National Land Transport Transitional Act (2000), this conversion process should be complete by 2006. Current, legal mini-bus operators will be subsidized for the replacement of their existing vehicles through a 'scrapping allowance". Existing legal mini-buses will be handed in and scrapped, and operators will receive a 20 percent subsidy from government towards the purchase of new vehicles.

On 3 September 2003, at the request of the Committee, a presentation on taxi recapitalisation was made by a joint team from the National Department of Transport and the Department of Trade and Industry. The Committee was very pleased to hear that the recapitalisation process has made good progress in the recent period, and that it was now entering a decisive phase with the deadline for best and final offers from the short-listed vehicle manufacturers having been set for 12 September. If all goes well, Cabinet should be in a position to make a final determination on the tender before the end of 2003.

The Committee expressed satisfaction at progress now being made, and the Committee re-affirmed its commitment to this important, transformational programme that has the potential of greatly improving the safety and reliability of this major transport mode for the commuting public.

The Committee does, however, wish to raise two concerns:

1.Given the difficulty of making rapid progress in implementing this aspect of the programme, the 2006 dead-line for the completion of the process, as stipulated in the National Land Transport Transitional Act (2000), may now be unreasonable. The Committee hereby indicates its willingness to consider an amendment to the Act in regard to the envisaged legal dead-line, once the tendering process is completed and the roll-out of the programme is imminent.

2.The Committee accepts that the actual cost of the new vehicles is impossible to determine until the best and final offer process and subsequent negotiations have been completed. The Committee hopes that these will be successful. However, the Committee has, for a considerable time, been concerned about the affordability, for a significant proportion of current operators, of the new fleet of vehicles, notwithstanding the proposed "scrapping allowance" subsidy. The Committee urges government to carefully assess affordability, in the light of whatever results emerge from the current tendering process, before proceeding directly with implementation. If the price of the new vehicles is likely to prove unsustainable for a significant proportion of current operators, government should not abandon the strategic objective of making the taxi industry safer and more accessible through recapitalisation. However, alternative approaches to recapitalisation should then be canvassed in consultation with stake-holders.

The Committee re-affirms its appreciation for the important progress made in the overall taxi transformation process, and we re-affirm our support for the strategic objective of achieving safer and more accessible public transport for millions of commuters through, amongst other things, a programme of subsidized recapitalisation of the minibus industry.